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Message no. 1
From: Craig J Wilhelm Jr craigjwjr@*********.net
Subject: [TECH]: Wireless "Pulse" Technology
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 06:17:29 -0400
I found a rather neat article on this (sort of) new technology that I
think would have quite a bit of relevance to the Shadowrun world.
Check it out at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/bcovfri.htm

Here's a brief summary of the article: (Blatantly ripped from
slashdot.org)
--
This is an article in USA Today about a technology that uses energy pulses
to transmit data. It's fast as the speed of light, cell phones could be as
small as a wristwatch, and you could have only 1 tower every 100 miles. It
uses new chip technology from IBM, and as an example, they cite that it
could support over 2,000 cellphones per block, as opposed to coventional
cellular today which is about 400 per block. But it's not limited to that,
it can be used for cheap personal radar as well. Well worth a read,
fascinating stuff. In a related story, the inventor of the patent is in a
dispute with a government funded lab who, according to congress, stole the
idea.
--
Craig "Knee Deep in the Blood of Swine" Wilhelm
Those who would give up a little freedom for security
deserve neither freedom nor security
-Benjamin Franklin
UIN: 1864690
Rho Phi Gamma
http://home.earthlink.net/~craigjwjr/
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Message no. 2
From: A Halliwell u5a77@*****.cs.keele.ac.uk
Subject: [TECH]: Wireless "Pulse" Technology
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 13:46:45 +0100 (BST)
And verily, did Craig J Wilhelm Jr hastily scribble thusly...
|This is an article in USA Today about a technology that uses energy pulses
|to transmit data. It's fast as the speed of light, cell phones could be as
|small as a wristwatch, and you could have only 1 tower every 100 miles.

Not to be too much of a pedant, but ALL radio signals travel as fast as the
speed of light....

what's so "clever" about that?
And as they haven't gone into details on how to get 'round the line of sight
problem inherent in Ultra-High_frequency transmissions (or higher), I think
I'll take the "tower every 100 miles" thing with a pinch of salt.


It
|uses new chip technology from IBM, and as an example, they cite that it
|could support over 2,000 cellphones per block, as opposed to coventional
|cellular today which is about 400 per block. But it's not limited to that,

AND, as they're cramming even more information into the frequency range,
that means the frequency has to be even higher than today, which makes the
line of sight problem even worse. Even fog and pollution would probably
interfere with the signal.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|u5a77@*****.cs.keele.ac.uk| Windows95 (noun): 32 bit extensions and a |
| | graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit |
| Andrew Halliwell | operating system originally coded for a 4 bit |
| Finalist in:- |microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that|
| Computer Science | can't stand 1 bit of competition. |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|GCv3.1 GCS/EL>$ d---(dpu) s+/- a- C++ U N++ o+ K- w-- M+/++ PS+++ PE- Y t+ |
|5++ X+/++ R+ tv+ b+ D G e>PhD h/h+ !r! !y-|I can't say F**K either now! :( |
Message no. 3
From: Veskrashen veskrashen@*******.com
Subject: [TECH]: Wireless "Pulse" Technology
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 09:36:04 -0500
A Halliwell wrote:
<SNIP>

> what's so "clever" about that?
> And as they haven't gone into details on how to get 'round the line of sight
> problem inherent in Ultra-High_frequency transmissions (or higher), I think
> I'll take the "tower every 100 miles" thing with a pinch of salt.
>
> It
> |uses new chip technology from IBM, and as an example, they cite that it
> |could support over 2,000 cellphones per block, as opposed to coventional
> |cellular today which is about 400 per block. But it's not limited to that,
>
> AND, as they're cramming even more information into the frequency range,
> that means the frequency has to be even higher than today, which makes the
> line of sight problem even worse. Even fog and pollution would probably
> interfere with the signal.

You really need to read the article to understand, but basically it
works by transmitting pulses of discreet energy at scheduled times, kind
of like multiplexing. If the pulse comes 125 picoseconds before the
scheduled time, it's a 1; 125 after, and it's a 0. The pulses are
transmitted across a wide frequency range, and the receiver looks in
certain areas of the range for the incoming pulse, then switches to the
next range for the next pulse. The pulses can be weak enough as to
amount to little more than noise to a normal radio signal, and the
receiver can determine the range to the transmitter very easily via the
precise timing. The technology can also be used to make very accurate
low powered radars, for use in cars to aid collision avoidance, or for
police to see through walls with. Basically, it combines long range,
high data flow rates (theoretical max of about 40MBits/sec), low power
requirements, small size, and inherent high speed frequency jumping into
a single, relatively inexpensive package. Cool stuff; it will be
interesting to see how this stuff pans out in the next few years.

Veskrashen.
Message no. 4
From: Craig J Wilhelm Jr craigjwjr@*********.net
Subject: [TECH]: Wireless "Pulse" Technology
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 10:55:46 -0400
From: A Halliwell <u5a77@*****.cs.keele.ac.uk>
> Not to be too much of a pedant, but ALL radio signals travel as fast as
the
> speed of light....
>
> what's so "clever" about that?

I snickered at that myself. It sounds high tech, and this was in USA
Today after all. Make something sound flashy and high tech, and what little
there is of the typical American brain just oozes out of our ears, and makes
us want to buy it... ;)

> And as they haven't gone into details on how to get 'round the line of
sight
> problem inherent in Ultra-High_frequency transmissions (or higher), I
think
> I'll take the "tower every 100 miles" thing with a pinch of salt.
> AND, as they're cramming even more information into the frequency range,
> that means the frequency has to be even higher than today, which makes the
> line of sight problem even worse. Even fog and pollution would probably
> interfere with the signal.

That's the thing, the technology doesn't send at any particular
frequency, it sends at ALL, or few many frequencies at the same time, either
way it works the same. This sounds like spread spectrum/CDMA (CDMA is code
division multiple access), but rather different, almost the opposite. Where
CDMA sends different parts of data on several different freqs, this tech
sends all the data on all freqs at the same time, just in very tightly
packed pulses, sort of like uh... really, really fast Morse code. Hmm... The
way I describe it makes it kinda sound like a giant leap back. For a better
explanation, check the companies description of it at:

http://www.time-domain.com/technology.html

To bring this on topic, this tech will be under development for quite
some time to come. Perhaps until after 2029...
Imagine most of the data on this technology getting lost in the crash of
2029, and now, uh, some thirty odd years later this comes onto the scene.
Think about it, nearly undetectable, very high bandwidth wireless
communication. Imagine what kind of horror could be spread by untraceable
Deckers with wireless, mobile matrix connections! Even if you don't think
this would provide enough bandwidth for a full speed matrix connection,
(which I kind of doubt myself), just link several of them together for a
parallel connection. Since this type of transmitter can be very small, and
use very little power, (as the company keeps saying), with enough
technological advancement, a cybernetic parallel transmitter is feasible.
--
Craig "Knee Deep in the Blood of Swine" Wilhelm
Those who would give up a little freedom for security
deserve neither freedom nor security
-Benjamin Franklin
UIN: 1864690
Rho Phi Gamma
http://home.earthlink.net/~craigjwjr/
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X-- R++ tv b++ DI-- D+(Q2++) G++ e++ h* r y++**
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Message no. 5
From: Stainless Steel Rat ratinox@******.gweep.net
Subject: [TECH]: Wireless "Pulse" Technology
Date: 12 Apr 1999 19:59:53 -0400
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* A Halliwell <u5a77@*****.cs.keele.ac.uk> on Mon, 12 Apr 1999
| Not to be too much of a pedant, but ALL radio signals travel as fast as the
| speed of light....

I'm glad someone noticed. :)

| And as they haven't gone into details on how to get 'round the line of
| sight problem inherent in Ultra-High_frequency transmissions (or higher),
| I think I'll take the "tower every 100 miles" thing with a pinch of salt.

It could work... with each tower being a kilometer or three tall. :)

| AND, as they're cramming even more information into the frequency range,
| that means the frequency has to be even higher than today,

Or bitwise reduction (ATRAC) or lossy compression (MPEG). Good for voice,
utterly useless for data.

| which makes the line of sight problem even worse. Even fog and pollution
| would probably interfere with the signal.

That happens today with microwave comm links.
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--
Rat <ratinox@******.gweep.net> \ Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an
Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ unknown glowing substance which fell to
PGP Key: at a key server near you! \ Earth, presumably from outer space.
Message no. 6
From: Adam Getchell acgetchell@*******.edu
Subject: [TECH]: Wireless "Pulse" Technology
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 17:00:31 -0700
This is radar-on-a-chip technology I mentioned awhile back. Picosecond
radar pulses with distinctive time signatures to differentiate amongst
devices.

"Energy pulses" would be picosecond radiofrequency EM waves.

Popular Science ran an article on it awhile back -- radar on a chip.

Effective range would be about 200 meters, if I remember correctly, and it
would be relatively stealthy (ie low power). That also means it would be
rather susceptible to jamming.

>Craig "Knee Deep in the Blood of Swine" Wilhelm

--Adam

acgetchell@*******.edu
"Invincibility is in oneself, vulnerability in the opponent." --Sun Tzu
Message no. 7
From: A Halliwell u5a77@*****.cs.keele.ac.uk
Subject: [TECH]: Wireless "Pulse" Technology
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 13:44:38 +0100 (BST)
And verily, did Stainless Steel Rat hastily scribble thusly...
|That happens today with microwave comm links.

Don't I know it...
(I'm in the TA, remember... Royal Signals... Even the UHF bands tend to be
verrrrry.... eratic...)

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|u5a77@*****.cs.keele.ac.uk| Windows95 (noun): 32 bit extensions and a |
| | graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit |
| Andrew Halliwell | operating system originally coded for a 4 bit |
| Finalist in:- |microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that|
| Computer Science | can't stand 1 bit of competition. |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|GCv3.1 GCS/EL>$ d---(dpu) s+/- a- C++ U N++ o+ K- w-- M+/++ PS+++ PE- Y t+ |
|5++ X+/++ R+ tv+ b+ D G e>PhD h/h+ !r! !y-|I can't say F**K either now! :( |
Message no. 8
From: Pantherr pantherr@*****.net
Subject: [TECH]: Wireless "Pulse" Technology
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 00:48:51 -0500
<snip>

> You really need to read the article to understand, but basically it
> works by transmitting pulses of discreet energy at scheduled times, kind
> of like multiplexing. If the pulse comes 125 picoseconds before the
> scheduled time, it's a 1; 125 after, and it's a 0. The pulses are
> transmitted across a wide frequency range, and the receiver looks in
> certain areas of the range for the incoming pulse, then switches to the
> next range for the next pulse.

That right there is one of the standard methods of military
encryption. Oops, doesn't sound so cutting-edge now, does it? :P

> The pulses can be weak enough as to amount
> to little more than noise to a normal radio signal, and the receiver can
> determine the range to the transmitter very easily via the precise timing.
> The technology can also be used to make very accurate low powered radars,
> for use in cars to aid collision avoidance, or for police to see through
> walls with.

Hmm, how long before the court system throws a case out
because this was used when there was no
justification/suspicion/warrant?

> Basically, it combines long range, high data flow rates
> (theoretical max of about 40MBits/sec), low power requirements, small
> size, and inherent high speed frequency jumping into a single, relatively
> inexpensive package. Cool stuff; it will be interesting to see how this
> stuff pans out in the next few years.

Ok, so from this, I'd say the *real* tech advancement here would be
miniaturization....

Pantherr

---
Base not your joy upon the deeds of others, for what is given can be taken away. No hope
= no fear
- Peter Steele, in dedicating Bloody Kisses

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